{"id":22186,"date":"2017-05-10T13:31:30","date_gmt":"2017-05-10T19:31:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=22186"},"modified":"2017-05-10T13:31:30","modified_gmt":"2017-05-10T19:31:30","slug":"craft-brew-practices-amended-omnibus-liquor-law-changes-advanced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=22186","title":{"rendered":"Craft brew practices amended, omnibus liquor law changes advanced"},"content":{"rendered":"

A bill that would make numerous changes to Nebraska\u2019s liquor laws was amended and advanced from general file May 10.<\/p>\n

\"Sen.
Sen. Tyson Larson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As introduced by O\u2019Neill Sen. Tyson Larson, LB632 would make a number of changes to the Nebraska Liquor Control Act, including several impacting craft brewers. A provision that would require all alcoholic beverages purchased for resale in the state to be \u201cat rest\u201d at a licensed wholesale warehouse prior to distribution was the focus of debate.<\/p>\n

Larson said the provisions would clarify that \u2013 except for the ability to transport to and sell at their own retail locations \u2013 craft brewers must go through a distributor. The language would codify in state law existing rules and regulations created by the state Liquor Control Commission, he said, and is important so it can audit and regulate shipments.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo allow in-state craft brewery beer not to come at rest in the wholesaler\u2019s warehouse, but to require out-of-state beer to do so, also raises a constitutional issue,\u201d Larson said, which he said likely would result in expensive litigation.<\/p>\n

Lincoln Sen. Mike Hilgers disagreed, saying that the test in the relevant court cases centers on whether the different rules for in-state and out-of-state producers results in a system that is \u201crigged\u201d to favor in-state interests. A system in which rural Nebraska craft brewers are allowed to have their beer come to rest in a distribution truck, while others would be required to come to rest in a warehouse, would not necessarily be unconstitutional, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I\u2019ve seen so far here is that this type of change does not rig the game in favor of in-state sellers,\u201d Hilgers said.<\/p>\n

Bellevue Sen. Carol Blood offered an amendment that would remove the requirement that beer be unloaded into and distributed from a licensed wholesaler\u2019s warehouse located in Nebraska.<\/p>\n

Distributors still would be required to take possession of beer, she said, which would preserve the state\u2019s three-tiered liquor control system that separates producers, distributors and retailers. She said the change simply would mean that distributors would not have to transport beer produced outside of Lincoln and Omaha hundreds of miles to a warehouse before delivering it to retailers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bottom line is that we should be embracing these entrepreneurs,\u201d Blood said, \u201cnot making it harder or more expensive for them to run their businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sen. Tom Brewer of Gordon supported the amendment, saying it would support the many craft brewers operating in rural Nebraska.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey all speak with the same voice and the same concerns,\u201d he said. \u201cThe ag economy is in peril now. These towns are struggling to survive and [without the Blood amendment] we\u2019re going to do something that will make their lives nearly impossible as far as survival in their capacity as a small-town brewery.\u201d<\/p>\n

The amendment was adopted 35-0.<\/p>\n

As introduced, LB632 would have limited to 12 the number of Special Designated Licenses (SDLs) that a retail licensee could be issued in any calendar year. The bill also would have required a showing of \u201csubstantial need and undue hardship\u201d in order for the Liquor Control Commission (LCC) to waive rules relating to issuing an SDL.<\/p>\n

A General Affairs Committee amendment, adopted 40-0, removed the SDL limitation and the requirement to show substantial need or undue hardship. Among other provisions, the amendment also would:
\n\u2022 create a definition for a bottle club;
\n\u2022 clarify that the \u201cat rest\u201d requirement for distribution does not apply to farm wineries;
\n\u2022 remove a proposed limit on off-site retail expansion for craft brewery licensees and a requirement that retail locations engage in production;
\n\u2022 increase from 32 to 64 ounces the container size under a limited bottling endorsement;
\n\u2022 require the LCC to keep track of delinquent wine and spirit retailers;
\n\u2022 allow the LCC to waive the requirement that alcohol be purchased through a wholesaler when issuing SDLs to nonprofits, churches, municipalities and other entities;
\n\u2022 require a third-party shipper to report to the LCC when delivering out-of-state alcohol directly to a purchaser in Nebraska; and
\n\u2022 grant the LCC authority to suspend a license for up to 48 hours for a first violation and up to 15 days for a third or subsequent violation in the same time period.<\/p>\n

In addition, the bill would create the Music Licensing Agency Act. The act would require a music licensing agency to register with the state Department of Revenue and file an annual electronic copy of each performing rights agreement that provides for payment of royalties made available from the music licensing agency to any Nebraska proprietor.<\/p>\n

Following adoption of the committee amendment, the bill advanced to select file 43-0.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A bill that would make numerous changes to Nebraska\u2019s liquor laws was amended and advanced from general file May 10.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22185,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10],"tags":[110],"class_list":["post-22186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-affairs","tag-sen-tyson-larson"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/LB632Larson5-10-17a.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22186"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22186\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22188,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22186\/revisions\/22188"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}